Bust or Breakout: Can Keon Coleman make an "Eric Moulds" style great leap forward

[Chandler#81]

Blasphemy!

Coleman/Moulds?

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Chandler#81

[Alphadawg7]

I think people are missing the point - the OP wasn't comparing him as a player or even peak as Moulds, he simply used Moulds as an example of someone who started slow and then broke out.  There is all this focus on discussion comparing the two, but that wasn't the point.  

 

So, based on the original question, yes he can still breakout.  Will he, is the real question.  What I am a little surprised on how they are using him after all the talk from camp and the offseason.  All we heard was all the players from Allen, Dion, etc as well as Beane and the Coaches was how much different he looked as a player, how he was the star of camp, always looking like the best WR on the field etc.  But despite all that, all they are doing is using Keon as Mack Hollins 2.0 this year.  He is primarily used in a blocking capacity and they are not making any attempts to get him involved or get him the ball.  Even more suprising was how big of an impact he made week 1 in a key role to help us come back on the Ravens, but they never really looked to get him going in any other game this year.

 

And while that is one part of it, the other part is the frustratingly way that Brady is using him even when trying to get him the ball.  They are trying force a square peg into a round hole.  They need to study how the Falcons and Colts get London and Pittman involved and going.  They move them all over the field and let them run routes they excel at.  Instead, Brady seems convinced Keon is the next Mike Evans, and he just isn't that player.  He is fast enough, this notion he isn't is honestly absurd.  Some of the best WR's in the NFL now and in the past have similar speeds.  But their game evolved around that, and we are not doing anything to seemingly to help him do that by forcing him into a similar bad role that he had in College.  

 

So yes, he can break out - but I question (and starting to really doubt) if he can here under Brady because of 3 critical reasons:

1. No one in the Bills offense gets consistent targets with Brady's small ball spread the ball offense.
2. Brady's very high value on blocking out of the WR's and Keon being out best blocker doing that Gabe Davis - Mack Hollins type role.  
3. How we use Keon and how he would be better as a big slot but he isn't the best WR we have for the slot.

It is pretty silly to declare the 1st pick in the 2nd round a bust a season and a half into his career, especially at WR where it can take 3+ seasons before they really start to breakout.  But, its a lot harder to breakout when you don't get the opportunities, and when you do, you are getting them too often on routes that are not his strong suit because of the Bills need for him to be that.  

 

PS:  Keon has gotten open a LOT more than people think.  In fact, a lot of our targets have when people have thought "no one is open".  Quite frankly both Brady and Allen have not been great in parts of this season, and a lot of missed opportunities have been left on the field.  Whether it be Allen checked down too soon, Allen had happy feet, Allen took a short safe throw (usually by design), etc.  Doesn't mean Keon is playing well enough, but if we want to get him going, there have been more opportunities there to do so that we have not executed on too.  So I do think he has the potential to still be a good player in this league, but at some point, someone needs to make the concious decision to try and find out.  And that is NOT at all the philosophy of our offense, and for what we run in this system they have prioritized his blocking (like Brady did with Davis and Mack) as his primary contribution.  

 

Final Note:  The Hope - I think Gabe Davis return is Keon's best chance to get more involved as a receiving target and not so much a blocker.  If Davis can off load some of the blocking duties that Keon takes on, maybe that will create more opportunities to get Keon going as a pass catcher more.  

[BVBILLS]

Id say no, we wont

[JESSEFEFFER]

I don’t understand why so many Bills fans want to make a hobby out of crapping on our young players as they try to establish their careers.  Most of the featured whipping boys of the recent past have worked out eventually.  
 

The Bills are favoring the run at a league leading rate.  Many of the snaps he takes are for that purpose so the snap count argument is lame. Huge play he almost made against NE but Josh gave him a slightly bad ball.  
 

At only 22 he seems deserving of my patience as the team wins.

[Johnny Bravo]

15 hours ago, Einstein said:

Agreed. 

Moulds didn't have flashy numbers his first couple of years, but his talent was obvious.

Was it?  I remember a KO return for a TD against the Jets and nothing else?

 

What did you see that I missed?

[Einstein]

Just now, Johnny Bravo said:

Was it?  I remember a KO return for a TD against the Jets and nothing else?

 

What did you see that I missed?

 

A lot.

 

He was explosive and physical. Great run blocker and had good hands. He had an incredible back twisting over the head deep endzone catch his rookie year as well.

 

He was a WR4 in a Todd Collins led offense.

[Toyo321]

He has not shown any of us Bills fans, or to anyone else, "The NFL Media"  watching him play that he has the talent advantage over the guy lining up across from him on D on every play.  He has gotten so lucky on a few jump balls and had coverage break downs against him that has allowed him to make some big catches.   But in general he cant make the big play on his own or force the defender into a mistake that gives him the chance to make a big play or a ton of YAC....

 

He was not my pick in the draft two years ago, he was not even on my board of players to be drafted by Buffalo then.

 

If he had some traits that were seen on the field like other good receivers normally have in spades, "Speed, Route Running, and Situational Awareness" then he might make a difference in his 3rd year.  But I don't see it happening at all.

 

After watching Diggs's destroy us in the loss to the Patriots, even after coming back from a ACL injury, Coleman will never have that kind of talent... Never.....

 

I don't care that Digg's is gone but what bothers me is this front office never replaces talent equally when a key player leaves.  It's not a like for like talent exchange.  We just over pay for some other NFL teams cast offs at the position that never produce any results.  Our WR corps is terrible accept for Shakir.  There is not one receiver we have besides Shakir that I would not hand their walking papers right now.

 

We are stuck with Coleman,  he will play his rookie contract out and then he will be gone.  I actually can't wait until Gabe Davis gets on the field again at least he gives us chance to make big plays at WR.   All our other WR's are just spam, a waste of a roster spot.

 

Sorry but that is the case in the NFL, talent & speed is the golden ticket....   and in Colemans case he is not getting any golden tickets any time soon,  and for him NFL does mean " Not For Long "  and I can't wait until this does happen.

Edited 4 hours ago by Toyo321

[Alphadawg7]

47 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

I don’t understand why so many Bills fans want to make a hobby out of crapping on our young players as they try to establish their careers.  Most of the featured whipping boys of the recent past have worked out eventually.  
 

The Bills are favoring the run at a league leading rate.  Many of the snaps he takes are for that purpose so the snap count argument is lame. Huge play he almost made against NE but Josh gave him a slightly bad ball.  
 

At only 22 he seems deserving of my patience as the team wins.

This board crapped on Milano, Bernard, Benford, Bishop, AJE, Kincaid, Knox, even Allen, Cook, O’Cyrus, Spencer Brown, Groot, Shakir, and Oliver early in all their careers.  
 

Of course no one “remembers” doing that, they only remember the guys they crapped on that didn’t work out like Elam.  Or they forget they loved the pick like Ford and then later forgot that when they mock Beane for making the pick.  
 

Edited 4 hours ago by Alphadawg7

[goldenboy81]

I wish but probably not 

[Walking Tall]

Moulds was fast. Coleman isn’t.

[Dr. Who]

2 hours ago, Rousseauisnoschmo said:

I didn't like the pick either but he did flash at times last year so it gave me some semblance of hope. One and a half seasons is to early to declare this guy a bust. If he still looks like dog doo doo after year three then its probably not likely to happen. Sounds like he's got some growing up to do. Hopefully there's something there and this crap season motivates him on to bigger and better things. I'm not ready to give up on the guy just yet.

 

I am not giving up, either. I don't much like the odds, but it could still work out.

[Kornfed]

Lots of guys without great speed are able to gain separation. Angles and deceptive body language/moves. He’s very young and I wouldn’t give up on him. 

[Billsfanatic8989]

12 hours ago, loyal2dagame said:

Eric Moulds is a hall of fame caliber wr. I believe if he had a consistent qb in Buffalo instead of a new qb every 2-3 years he would be in the hof.

 

Coleman may develop into something,  but right now he shouldn't ever be mentioned with Moulds 

Just imagine his stats with a prime Josh Allen. And just imagine how much better this offense/team would be with prime Moulds on it.

[3rdand12]

To answer the OP

Not sure 😋

[finn]

3 hours ago, NoSaint said:

the problem is you are comparing a highlight reel in college to what you see snap in and snap out

 

you could assemble a few fun highlights here too. 

Yes, I acknowledged that. I'm looking for rays of hope on an increasingly cloudy day, not predicting full sunshine. 

[Don Otreply]

Would be nice, 

[HappyDays]

5 hours ago, SCBills said:

But I don’t know.. he looks slow and weak.  And I can be ok with the slow part if he could win contested catches or didn’t get tackled like he weighs 120 pounds, but i don’t see one thing he does well… or even looks like he has potential to do well. 

 

This is the part that's really frustrating me. Even people that didn't like him as a prospect agreed he was physical and had good YAC skills. But inexplicably even those positive traits have disappeared. His performance last year against Seattle was one of the more physical performances I've seen from a WR. What happened to that player? Now he gets bullied by the likes of Marcus Jones. Against Tennessee last year he caught a quick slant, made one move and almost took it to the house. Compare that to the quick slant he had against KC this past week where he was immediately brought down by a soft tackle. A player busting because they never overcome their negative traits, sure I can live with that, but I can't recall an instance like this where a player lost everything that was supposed to make him special. It would be like if Allen came into the NFL making inaccurate throws and horrible decisions, and then also started throwing low velocity ducks like Nathan Peterman. It's bewildering to me.

[VW82]

Keon looks like a player who's lost his confidence. I agreed with the Steve Smith take, particularly the rep where he's cradling an easy catch on the slant and getting nothing out of it. 

 

It looks like Josh has lost confidence in him as well. We were forcing more balls to him early in the season and Keon wasn't coming up with them. That has to be tough on his psyche. A more mentally tough player would persevere, but it's tough to stay confident when you're not having any success and you can literally see the QB losing confidence in real time on film (despite having worked together all off season to make sure you were on the same page).

 

I don't see Keon recovering from this at least on Bills. We can talk all we want about moving him around, but Kincaid and Shakir are better slot options. We should look to trade him in the off season assuming he has any value at all. If not, he's WR4 next year. 

[LABILLBACKER]

12 hours ago, BillsFanForever19 said:

 

This doesn't remotely fit Coleman.

 

Heading into the Draft, almost no one here liked him as a prospect and even less wanted him to be our pick.

 

After he was Drafted, we all had hopes that he'd succeed - as we do with all Draft Picks. But there was no hype from the fanbase over him. Just hopes that were pretty quickly dashed.

Agree, that 4.61 was pretty damning.  And if the coaches aren't willing to put him in the slot to take advantage of his " gauntlet " skills, then there's really no use for him.  Unfortunately he is exactly who we thought he was.

[Pete]

2 hours ago, Billsfanatic8989 said:

Just imagine his stats with a prime Josh Allen. And just imagine how much better this offense/team would be with prime Moulds on it.

Moulds had to have to play with Todd Collins as his QB, and Moulds still had big WR numbers that 2025 WRs can only dream about 

 

Josh has to play Keon as his #1WR, and still puts up big numbers and wins

 

Josh to Moulds would be lethal. 
 

Life can be cruel